Frank Ackroyd Smith, Ph.D.

Introduction

On 10 June 1944, shortly after receiving his Ph.D. in physiological chemistry (i.e., biochemistry) from Ohio State University, Frank Ackroyd Smith (1919-1994) joined the Manhattan Project at the University of Rochester. Smith became a member of the Fluoride Laboratory of the Industrial Hygiene Section, part of the Manhattan Project's Division of Pharmacology & Toxicology. The laboratory had been initiated in 1941 by Ann Tarbell, Ph.D., who headed the unit when Smith arrived, but who left the following year to raise a family. From then on Frank Smith headed both the Fluoride Laboratory and the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory of the Industrial Hygiene Section.

Initially the Fluoride Laboratory's purpose was to determine the fluoride content of urine samples collected from industrial personnel at Manhattan Project sites across the United States. Isolating needed isotopes from uranium ore exposed workers to hydro fluorides, tetra fluorides and hexafluorides which required monitoring. Occasionally the Laboratory was required to do fluoranalysis of bone samples for autopsies. Much of the initial work for determining bone fluorides was established in the Fluoride Laboratory at this time. The Laboratory can also be credited for having developed a successful analytic methodology for measuring fluoride in human blood, which had previously been very difficult to determine.

With the closure of the Manhattan District, the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology continued to function under the aegis of the newly formed Atomic Energy Commission. The Fluoride Laboratory in Rochester provided fluoranalysis for the AEC nationwide.

As interest in water fluoridation increased in the mid-1950s, Smith began joint research on fluorides with Harold Hodge. Hodge had had long been involved in dental research, and also headed the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology for the AEC from 1948 to 1958. The field of fluoride metabolism was largely virgin ground when Smith and Hodge began their investigations into fluoride absorption, distribution and excretion.

Organization of the Collection

The eighty-eight notebooks in this collection were presented to the Rare Books & Manuscripts section of the Edward G. Miner Library by Frank A. Smith, Ph.D. in the summer of 1993. They are contained in eleven boxes and occupy five linear feet.

The laboratory notebooks of Frank A. Smith record testing and experimentation in the Fluoride Laboratory from the time of its establishment in March 1944 through 1962. The notebooks are divided into three series. The first is a numbered series of fifty-five notebooks dating from March 1944 through the mid-1960s (boxes 1-7). In addition to the Miner Library's own inventory of this series, there is an "Index to Fluoride Laboratory Notebooks" for these fifty-five numbered volumes which was prepared by the Laboratory, and which is appended to the hard copy of the Miner Library's inventory to this collection.

The second and third series of notebooks are unnumbered (boxes 8- 11). Almost the whole of the second series (1947-1961) bears the name of F.A. Smith on the cover and apparently records research in which Smith was personally involved. The third series contains the data of two studies: Fluoride Study No. 1 (1958-1960) and Fluoride Study No. 2 (1961-1962).

Container List

Box One

1. 216 ion analysis, March 14, 1944- (Ann Tarbell) 
2. 30 analyses, 10/1/44- (Ann Tarbell) 
3. Problems in 30 analyses 
4. 30 analyses, 3/15/45- (Ann Tarbell) 
5. 30 analyses, 10/3/45- (M. Voss) 
6. Fluoride analyses, 1946- 
7. Fluoride analyses, 1946- 
8. 30 analyses, Sept. 1946-Dec. 1947

Box Two

9. 30 ion-analyses (blood), Oct. 1946-Aug. 1947 
10. Fluoride research projects, 9/47- 
11. Miscellaneous/fluoride analyses, December 1947- 
12. Fluoride research projects, April 7, 1948- 
13. Fluoride research projects, June 21, 1948- 
14. Fluoride research projects, August 12, 1948- 
15. Fluoride research projects, March 18, 1949- 
16. Fluoride Lab, Blanks and recoveries, standard recovery curve 
17. Charlotte fluorine demonstration

Box Three

18. Fluoride content of skeletal tissues of normal rats 
19. Fluoride content of skeletal tissues of normal rats 
20. Miscellaneous 
21. Effects of renal dysfunction on urinary excretion of fluoride 
22. Miscellaneous 
23. Blanks and recoveries, standard curves 
24. Miscellaneous (J. Hein) 
25. Fluoride content of normal human skeletal tissue, to Sept. 4, 1952

Box Four

26. Fluoride content of normal human skeletal tissue, Sept. 5, 1952- 
27. Balance studies of 1 and 3, PPM fluoride, with E.A.M. 
28. Renal dysfunction, experiment 3 
29. [Untitled] 
30. Fluoride balance studies 
31. F. Brudenvold 
32. Fluoride metabolism, FA Smith, L. Gangarosa, D. Gardner; rat expts., relation between Ca and F metabolism 
33. II. Unilateral nephrectomy; fluoride excretion experiment, FA Smith, G. Elldridge, D. Gardner; III. maternal- placental- fetal fluoride levels in rabbits, FA Smith, L. Gangarosa, D. Gardner 
34. Renal clearances/dogs, summer 1954

Box Five

35. Su F2 (R. Wendt) 
36. Diabetic rat-fluoride balance studies, alloxan-produced, FA Smith 
37. Fluoride distribution, F. Smith & C.M. Virtue, 6/20/55- 
38. Bone section analyses 
39. F distribution, human tissues 
40. Eastman Dental Dispensary and Forsyth Dental Infirmary 
41. Blanks-recoveries, 1956 
42. Miscellaneous 
43. Metabolism study with fluoridated water

Box Six

44. [Untitled] 
45. [Untitled] 
46. Kidney - fluoride study 
47. [Untitled] 
48. Gastro-intestinal absorption 
49. Plasma recoveries, samples for LL Hall 
50. [Untitled] 
51. Forbes I, balance data 
52. Forbes II

Box Seven

53. Miscellaneous 
54. Forbes III 
55. FAc

Box Eight

(Unnumbered notebooks; cover titles; dates internal)

Folder 1. F.A. Smith-Personal [Dupont litigation, undated] 
Folder 2. Bronson Lab, F. studies; EA Maynard, FA Smith, WL Downes [Nov. 1947] 
Folder 3. Special analyses [lollipops, 1950] 
Folder 4. Dr. R. Feltman [1951] 
Folder 5. Na F; food consumption, water consumption, F in water; EA Maynard, FA Smith [May 1951] 
Folder 6. Sterling-Winthrop [Sept. 1951] 
Folder 7. Proctor & Gamble [July 1954] 
Folder 8. Bristol-Myers [1954] 
Folder 9. Fluorine-CPO's; acute toxicity, FA Smith ... [et al.] [Aug. 1955]

Box Nine

Folder 1. Cooperative screening toxicity program, Illinois State Geological Survey; FA Smith, WL Downs, J. Pagano, JR Parsons [June 1956] 
Folder 2. Cooperative screening toxicity program, Illinois State Geological Survey; guinea pig calcification expt. [July 1956] 
Folder 3. Renal damage in rabbits: using HgCl2; Frank Smith, Joseph S. Pagano [June 18, 1956] 
Folder 4. Chemical compound screening survey; FA Smith, WL Downs, MA Wallman, JR Parsons [Aug. 1959] 
Folder 5. Fluoride-parathyroid hormone, Frank A. Smith [March 1960] 
Folder 6. Fluoride study; FA Smith [summer 1960; Sr. Mary Anthilia] 
Folder 7. Uranium analyses, Frank A. Smith [10/28/60] 
Folder 8. Uranium analyses [1/20/61] 
Folder 9. Fluoride study no. 1, book 1-01: analysis data; WL Downs [May 1958]

Box Ten

Folder 1. Fluoride study [no. 1], book 1-02: food consumption study, "F" experiment; balance 3 mos. 10/20/58 -low; 6 mos. 11/3/58 - high; JM Taylor et al. 
Folder 2. Fluoride study [no. 1], book 1-03: balance & sacrifice, 12 mos, 2 years, July 1959 & June 1960 
Folder 3. Fluoride study [no. 1], book 1-04: control rats - 2 yr.; 1 PPM - 2 yr. [July 1958] 
Folder 4. Fluoride study [no. 1], book 1-05: 5 PPM - 2yr; 10 PPM - 2 yr [June 1958] 
Folder 5. Fluoride study [no. 1], book 1-06: 25 PPM, 50 PPM, 100 PPM, 200 PPM - 1 yr [Aug. 1958] 
Folder 6. Fluoride study [no. 1], book 1-07: 300 PPM, 400 PPM, 500 PPM - 6 mo. [June 1958] 
Folder 7. Fluoride study [no. 1], book 1-08: second groups, 0, 25, 50, 100 PPM [July 1958] 
Folder 8. Fluoride study, study II, book 1-09: rack CC - 10 PPM, rack XX - control [July 1959] 
Folder 9. Fluoride study no. 2, book no. 1: body weights, 1st series; WL Downs, 12/1/60-8/2/61 
Folder 10. Fluoride study no. 2, book no. 2: body weights, 2nd series; WL Downs, LK Wong; 3/9/61

Box Eleven

Folder 1. Fluoride study no. 2, book no. 3: body weights, 1st series, sacrifice data; WL Downs [Dec. 1962] 
Folder 2. Fluoride study no. 2, book no. 4: body weights, 2nd series; WL Downs, LK Wong, 3/9/61 
Folder 3. Fluoride study no. 2, water consumption studies, food consumption studies [June 1961] 
Folder 4. Fluoride study no. 2: general data; WL Downs, LK Wong [July 1961] 
Folder 5. Fluoride study no. 2, reproduction study [June 1962]